The Ups and The Downs
by InnocentGrace
Summary: Iruka recently started at his new highschool. His roommate, Deidara, asks him to spend the day with his friends, the Akatsuki. What has Iruka gotten himself into? And just what is Kakashi, a previous tormentor of Iruka, doing here?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello to you wonderful people! My name is InnocentGrace and I am reasonably new to the fan fiction world so I ask that you please be gentle with your reviews and critisism. **

**I know that there are plenty of AU high school fics out there but I just couldn't help myself and I had to write one up **

**Reviews will be much appreciated! **

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><p><span>Chapter 1<span>

Iruka knocked lightly on the door to his new dorm room fidgeting slightly with his old, battered duffel bag slung across his shoulder resting on his right hip. An overly large, equally battered suitcase sat despondently behind him; it was his parent's suitcase as was the duffel bag; the only real things he had left of them. Iruka sighed, now's not the time to think about that.

He was about to raise his fist a second time to knock when he heard a voice yell through the door, almost in a war cry, "Art, is a BANG!" And immediately after, a muffled explosion could be heard making everything shake for a millisecond followed by a small cloud of dust and smoke that billowed from under the door.

Surprisingly the fire alarms didn't go off.

When no further sounds could be heard through the door Iruka became a little worried about whoever was his new roommate and instead of knocking again he reached for the handle and let himself in.

Forget, straight away the fact that Iruka couldn't help but admire the damage done by the blast. He was a bit of a pyro maniac, after all. Forget the fact that the once light blue walls were now almost black. Forget the no longer white ceiling, also almost black. Forget the smoking bits of debris cluttering the room and the two beds lying on their sides, mattresses slightly angled in a way that would have deflected the worst of the blast, clearly placed in such a way by _someone_. And that someone was lying face down slumped against a wall, _conveniently_ behind the mattresses. His long blond hair was a wild sooty mess and his clothes were blackened and sported smoldering patches.

Iruka raced over to the unconscious boy holding his shirt up to cover his nose against the acrid smell filling the room and quickly checked him over before rolling him on his back. And halted slightly. Under the soot marring the other boys face Iruka could see that he was very good looking, his features almost feminine.

Iruka lightly shook the other boys shoulder.

"Hey? You, ok?"

When no immediate response was forthcoming, Iruka shook the boy a little harder. "Hey! Wake up already will you?"

The other boy muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "don' wanna." And he tried to roll over.

Iruka sighed with relief. "Well you're gonna have to. See, as much as I appreciate the damage done by a good explosion, I don't appreciate that explosion happening in the new room that I am now going to be staying in."

That got the other boy to wake up slightly. Iruka noticed that his angled eyes were a cerulean blue. Which also happened to be his favorite color.

Groaning slightly the blond haired boy sat up groggily eyeing Iruka with a blank stare. Slowly comprehension dawned on his features as he took in just what Iruka had said.

"Oh, yeah! You're my new roommate, un! Iruka, right?"

Iruka nodded smile in place. "Yep, that's me."

"Well cool, un! I was trying out this new recipe for an explosive device I am working on." The boy seemed excited about it, " Anyways, I'm Deidara, un!"

Iruka held out his hand and the other took it. "Well, nice to meet you Deidara. Umm, what are we going to do about our room? And why hasn't anyone come to investigate?" He helped the other up.

The other boy laughed a look of manic glee on his face. "Well, explosions are an almost daily occurrence in this wing of the dorms, un. That's why the fire alarms have been disabled as well. I'm an artist, un," he explained. "And to me true art, is in an explosion!"

Iruka smiled matching the other's look of manic glee, "Well, Deidara. I can always appreciate a good explosion; that's probably why we're roommates."

Looking at the carnage in the room he added. "And I feel that were going to get along just fine."

0-0-0-0

A week went by and during that time Iruka and Deidara settled in well together. Coming from a fairly wealthy family, Deidara was able to cover the costs of getting their room cleaned up and all within a few hours. The acrid burning smell still clung to the air but before too long the two boys just became used to it.

When Deidara found out that Iruka shared his love for making bombs he was ecstatic and said half jokingly, "Well that's good, un. Other wise things would have gotten messy, un."

When Iruka found out that Deidara enjoyed and appreciated a good prank, he looked at the blond haired boy all serious and said, "Deidara, I could marry you."

After which they had a fit of laughter, rolling about their room trying not to spill the alcoholic cider that Iruka managed to smuggle in.

For once Iruka felt like he could fit in; for once someone appreciated and acknowledged him for him.

He felt that this new school, Hidden Leaf High, was a place where he could finally belong.

0-0-0-0

Iruka rushed to get to his next class, _damn Ebisu-sensei! _

The English teacher, Iruka was quick to learn, was insufferable and had a better-than-thou attitude. He had held Iruka back once class had ended in order to fill him in on what he had missed, since it was midterm.

Now Iruka was 10 minutes late to his next class.

He came up to the open door of his next class, panting heavily from running almost the entire length of the painfully long school building and up two flights of stairs. Getting his breathing under control he stepped into the loud classroom which instantly became quiet upon his arrival.

Iruka ignored the whispers and spoke to his teacher, a bearded scruffy looking man in his early thirties, "Ah, sorry I'm late Asuma-sensei."

Eyebrow raised, Asuma folded his muscled arms across his chest, "Any reason why you are late Umino?"

"I was held back after my last class." Iruka replied nervously rubbing the scar across his nose.

"Hn," the man grunted. "And who was your last teacher?"

"Ebisu-sensei."

Asuma let out a short bark of laughter. "Fair enough. Take a seat then."

Iruka smiled shyly to his teacher before taking a seat in the back row against a wall. Asuma noted it frowning slightly at the behavior but decided not to comment. "Alrighty then, which of you can tell me the formula for the future value of an annuity?" Silence "what? No one knows?"

A hand shot up. "Yes, Iruka?"

The boy blushed as attention was diverted to him. "Umm, could I perhaps write it up on the white board? It's difficult to explain the formula otherwise."

Asuma smiled, "come on out then."

Iruka took the whiteboard marker held out to him and walk up to the board. With his back to the class, Iruka began to write.

0-0-0-0

When the bell rang signaling the end of class Asuma called out "Iruka? Can you stay a minute? I want to have a word."

As the rest of the class filed out Iruka began to fidget, wondering what he had done. Asuma, noticing the boys discomfort smiled reassuringly at him, "Relax you're not in any kind of trouble. I just wanted to have a talk and see how things are going for you."

The tension visibly left Iruka's shoulders at the calm tone, not so much the words. He nodded smiling up at his teacher, "Things are going really good. My roommate, Deidara and I-"

"Wait, you mean Deidara, the blond fur ball Deidara?" Asuma asked, incredulous.

"Um, yes?"

"You've been with him for a week and he hasn't tried to blow you up?"

Confused at the way his teacher was reacting Iruka didn't know how to respond. "Um, w-we get along quite well together, actually. He blew up our room just before I got there."

"And you didn't run even then?"

"Well no. I thought that it was pretty cool how he was able to control the explosion like that."

"So, you like blowing things up too? No wonder he likes you. But we're getting off topic a bit." Asuma turned serious. "Iruka, I couldn't help but notice the way you act around the other students, watching their every movement, as if expecting an attack. I just wanted to know, did something happen at your old school for you to be this way?"

Iruka flinched slightly, and tensed up a bit. Should he tell Asuma-sensei? The man seems nice enough, but can he trust him?

"I-I'm sorry Asuma- sensei. But I don't think I can tell you, it- I… just not yet."

"Fair enough, but when you want to talk to someone, I'll listen."

0-0-0-0

When Iruka went to step out of the classroom he suddenly back peddled to avoid colliding with a tall lean student.

He was quick to apologize, "Oh, shit. I'm sorry, I didn't see-" He cut himself off apology turning into incredulity, "Kakashi? What the hell are you doing here?"

"Maa, Iruka." The silver haired teen replied in a bored tone. "I just got transferred actually, and I have come to speak to my math teacher about the work I need to catch up on. By the way, I am fine, thanks for asking. How are you?"

Iruka's eyes narrowed in suspicion and he brushed past the other boy replying bitterly, "Since when have you _ever_ cared about my well being?"

Turning back to Asuma who had remained silent during this brief exchange, Iruka said in an apologetic tone, "I'll see you tomorrow Asuma-sensei."

As he left he couldn't help but notice the triumphant smirk that crossed Kakashi's face.

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><p><strong><span>So what did you think of the first chapter? Review button is just down there! *points down* <span>**


	2. Chapter 2

**Many thanks to all those who reviewed/faved or added this story to their alerts! **

**Just as a forewarning I will not be updating the next chapter for at least a month; life's a bitch and she just bit hard. So I apologise in advance for that. **

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

Sitting in the dorm room he shared with Iruka, Deidara sat on the end of his bed in front of a canvas, paint brush in one hand, pot of orange paint in the other. On the canvas itself, was an incomplete painting of an explosion ripping through a building. Biting on the end of the brush, Deidara carefully looked the painting over deciding on where to put the next stroke; for every brush stroke must be perfect, after all. Finally making a decision, he dipped the brush into the orange paint and brought the brush tip to a spot on the canvas. Just as the brush touched the canvas the door to the dorm room slammed open and banged, rather forcefully, on the wall as it swung around, causing Deidara to jerk back making an orange streak appear across the painting.

Seeing his roommate, Deidara cried in anger, "What the fuck, un! You just ruined my painting!"

As if not hearing him, Iruka slammed the door closed and tossed his bag on his bed.

Deidara suddenly noticed how pale the other boy was and saw that his hands were shaking. Anger turned to concern.

"Iruka? You ok, un?"

The brunette shook his head, refusing to meet Deidara's gaze. Uttering a strangled, "I'm sorry." Iruka went to the bathroom and locked himself in.

Whatever happened Deidara knew that it wasn't good, sighing he knocked on the door, not expecting a reply he said quietly, "If you want to talk, un. I'll just be out here. It helps if there's someone who listens."

Hearing a muffled "thanks," Deidara went back to his painting.

Sitting on the tiled bathroom floor near the vanity Iruka struggled to keep the tears and, more importantly, the memories at bay.

He couldn't believe that Kakashi just got transferred here. After what the other teenager had done to him, even if it was an accident, Iruka couldn't believe that he would even be allowed in the same school as him.

Iruka began to feel phantom pains in his wrist, ribs and collar bone. He could still hear the bones breaking. No, don't think about that.

Getting up quickly, Iruka began to frantically search through the vanity cupboards for some painkillers. He knew that the feeling of pain was just in his head, but still, the tablets would help.

Not finding any he was going to have to ask Deidara; as long as the other boy didn't ask questions Iruka felt that he could get through the night.

Trying to even out his breathing a little, Iruka opened the bathroom door and went over to his roommate, who was trying to salvage his painting. The blonde looked up concern etched on his features, "Hey," he said quietly. "Are you ok, un?"

Iruka could only nod. "Do you-?" He cleared his throat. "Do you have any aspirin or painkillers?"

"Yeah sure, un." Reaching over to a black bag Deidara took out a bottle of aspirins and gave Iruka two.

"Thanks." He dry swallowed them, grimacing when one felt like it became lodged in his throat. Walking over to his bed Iruka threw himself over it lying on his belly and buried his face into his pillow.

"Uh, hey Iruka?"

Said brunette groaned in response.

"Do you wanna meet some of my friends tomorrow, un? We're meeting up in town, gonna hang out for a bit, you can meet my boyfriend Sasori, un."

Iruka turned a baleful eye towards the blonde, "Your Akatsuki friends?"

"Yep, un."

Thinking that it would be good to meet some new people Iruka summoned up a smile, "Sure, why not?"

Deidara brightened up considerably at that. "Well great, un! I'll just txt Leader and let him know."

Iruka screwed up his face, "Leader?"

"Well, we prefer calling him that to Pein, un. He brought Akatsuki together, that's why we call him Leader." Deidara said with a smile. "Don't let him intimidate you," he said turning serious. "He's very good with making people shit themselves, un. If you survive the first hour he will lighten up."

"Only an hour?" Iruka asked sarcastically.

Deidara beamed at him but didn't reply, becoming focused on his iPhone, tapping away at the screen. With the message sent, he turned back to his painting.

"So why don't you tell me about Akatsuki?" Iruka asked not wanting to be alone with his thoughts.

Deidara turned and sat cross legged in the middle of his bed. "What do you want to know, un?"

Iruka pursed his lips, "Well, you've told me about Sasori and his obsession with puppets and Leader. But what about the others?"

"I guess you want to be prepared, un?" At Iruka's nod he went on. "Well, un, there's Konan, she's Leaders girlfriend. She's a little quiet, has this obsession with origami and she has this sadistic streak, which his kinda why she's with Leader, un. There's Tobi, he has this obsession with weird masks and he's insane; in a cheerful evil kind of way. There's Zetsu, he has an obsession with plants, and he has a split personality, what we dubbed Black Zetsu and White Zetsu. You will know which one you are speaking to because Black Zetsu is kinda violent and will try to eat you," at Iruka's incredulous look he went on, "Seriously, un! He's a fucking cannibal! Anyways, White Zetsu is a bit of a 'save-the-rainforesty' kinda guy and he's really nice. Kakuzu has an obsession with money, like really bad; he will try to kill you if you filch even $5 of him. Hidan, yeah, he swears a lot, and unless you want to be sacrificed to Jashin-sama, I'd stay away from him, un. Don't ask who Jashin-sama is, no one knows but Hidan; apparently he's a god. The last two are Kisame and Itachi. You'll recognize Kisame straight away, I'm not gonna tell you why, you can find out tomorrow. Oh, and he has an obsession with sharks. And then there's Itachi, he doesn't talk much but he's a really good fighter. And he's filthy rich. In fact most of us are. And yeah, un. That's the Akatsuki for you."

Iruka blinked a couple of times before gathering some form of composure. "No offence Deidara, but you all sound really weird."

Deidara laughed, "None taken, un. Because we are weird."

Iruka raised an eyebrow, "I'm not sure if you should be proud of that."

Deidara beamed at him before turning serious, "Probably the main thing that brought us all together is that we are all from fucked up backgrounds, un. And I'm not prying, just guessing, but I think that you are as well."

Iruka swallowed then nodded, "Yeah, you could say that."

Deidara nodded, and went back to his painting.

He no sooner raised the brush up to the canvas when his phone vibrated. Taking it out of his pocket, Deidara sighed and muttered to himself, "If I get one more interruption, un, I am going to blow someone up."

Reading the message he perked up a bit. "Leader says that you're welcome to come tomorrow, un, providing that you're not some 'goody-two-shoes'- his words not mine- un."

Iruka laughed at that. "And what happens if I am?"

"Well, un, even though I know you're not, if you are then Leader, and no one else in Akatsuki for that matter, will trust you. And trust is the biggest thing in Akatsuki."

"Because you partake in criminal activities?" Iruka smiled. Deidara opened his mouth to reply but Iruka cut him off. "Don't worry, the Akatsuki's activities will not be known to those in authority."

"That's good, un; because otherwise you will have to be disappeared."

They both laughed at that; Iruka a bit nervously wondering if the Akatsuki actually were criminals.

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><p>Thanks for reading! See the review button down there? *points down* Reviews will be much appreciated. Ja ne!<p> 


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